Single-player Video Games Thread

Amor,

http://www.pcgamer.com/the-witcher-3-first-person-mod-gives-gamers-a-geralts-eye-view-of-the-world/

The Witcher 3 first-person mod gives gamers a Geralt’s-eye view of the world

Witcher 1: use mouse scroll button

1st P – Metro: Last Light, Bioshock: Infinite, System Shock 2 (a great fps/rpg cross), Deus Ex (any in the series), GTA V

I’ve played all except the Deus Ex series. They’re all good games.
But my favorite games of the past 5 years have all been 3rd person.

3rd P – Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Witcher 3, Tomb Raider, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect, Last of Us, Metal Gear Solid: V

[tab]If you haven’t played Witcher 3 yet, I strongly suggest you find some time and get into it. Once you get used to the mechanics, it surpasses Skyrim in almost every way and is the most stunning open world rpg of its scope ever made. I suppose I still like Skyrim’s score a little better but Witcher 3’s is still one of the best.

I put down all gaming for almost a year. I came back to Witcher 3 after my hiatus. Started a new savegame without even having finished my previous. Did a full playthrough, start to finish, without interruption, because, like a great movie, it’s worth it.[/tab]

That’s cool if you’re on PC, Wendy. I have the same problem as Amorphos, as far as 3D goes I mostly just like first-person view these days. I even got Mirror’s Edge Catalyst in the Easter sale because it’s so rare for such a game to be first-person. I did like The Last Guardian, though. And Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition, which may have been the best 5 euros I’ve ever spent. Dishonored 2 Limited Edition, which came with the digital version of Dishonored Definitive Edition, was also a fantastic buy at little over half price, by the way. Haven’t got around to playing the new Zelda yet; I hope that remains a series I can enjoy in third-person 3D.

I never got to checking out the Gothic games, but that description of Dark Souls sounds about right.

Except that Dark Souls doesn’t really have a story and is better described as punishing.

It feels like the game is against you, especially at first. You will die, countless times. You will imagine satisfied game devs. You will get better and you will defeat the most demoralizing foes. You will feel like a boss. And you will be, because you learned everything the hard way and learned it well.

Witcher 3 has a story. Dark Souls has incredible atmosphere and a minimalist narrative. The fantastic thing is the story that develops in the player’s head as you become familiar with every odd corner of the world, the haunt of every enemy, his movement & attack patterns. You won’t progress until you appreciate these things. As far as plot, all you’ll get are a short intro sequence, fragments of conversation, and minimalist lore that the developers never push in your face. Still, the world feels alive. And it does feel like the player has some forlorn purpose there. Even the most interesting tidbits and connections are easy to miss. It’s that much more fun to play again to pick up on all the backstory and intrigue, plus the fact that you’ll feel like a god.

Like Skyrim - Gothic 3, it can be played in first person (I think I already recommended this to you actually)
Fallout - I haven’t played the 4th, but assuming it’s anything like the 3rd, which I did play, I’d say STALKER series is the most similar - dark atmosphere, zombies/mutants, open world exploration, etc. Another is Metro, I played this years ago but never finished it cause the lag was killing me, but it’s a decent game.

It’s the same in Gothic games. I don’t know about Dark Souls, but in Gothic enemies don’t scale with you , meaning that at the start you’ll have to carefully pick your battles. Unless you also know exactly how strong every enemy is (you played the game before), you’ll likely die a lot unless you have perfect reflexes. And it’s very satisfying to come back stronger and defeat an enemy that kicked your ass before.

Well, I guess the comparison then was really justified, that’s exactly like Gothic. Each enemy has certain movement and attacking patterns that you have to learn and adapt to, some enemies are more vulnerable to some types of weapons, etc. And though it’s story oriented, the lore is minimal and isn’t pushed in your face. When you find books (which are actually short texts), they’re 90% of the time relevant to the actual game and describe some important part of the game world or some mechanic. Same thing applies to what characters say. There isn’t superfluous lore or tedious, repetitive quests added just for the sake of prolonging the game.

Souls games are dungeon crawlers. Basically, slow-paced action games. The only thing in common with RPG genre is skill development. Other than that, there is nothing in common: no story, no dialog choices, no open world, no nothing of what is unique to RPGs. It’s more about combat and prudence than anything else. Many assume it’s a hack n slash game because of the way it looks in the videos but the problem is you can’t play it like a hack n slash. You die when you try to do so. It’s a slow-paced game: you must be very careful with every step and move you make.

Sauwelios,

Changing platforms to play a great game is not a question for a die hard gamer. Just sayin’.

True, and I was considering getting a laptop as my next “console” anyway. Then I should definitely try that mod.

Sauwelios,

GOG.com has some updated versions of M&M VI-VIII, of course, the graphics are low polygon count and there are no awesome kill shots (low tech combat), but if you enjoy RPG skill building, an open world, and loads of challenging everything (bad guys, items, quests), check it out. I’ve never finished any of them nor have I even attempted to play the non turn-based mode (you get swarmed so it’s suicide). Even with walk-throughs and cheats, it’ll be devotional.

Has anyone played Glyph’s freeware Rift?

I tried the mod when it came out, but the game [fighting etc] isn’t designed for it. …and I always play as female protagonist.

I liked the first deus ex, but it is not [as]moddable like skyrim or fallout4, still I may check out the new one when its cheaper/sale. I see nexus host’s mod for it, mostly missions though. Shame you cant choose the character [and a female one], that’s a big part of it for me.

I think 3rd person is like someone has stuck a big lump on my screen, and there’s no way to get rid of it lol particularly bad if its a big ole male ass you gotta look at all the time. #-o

Nexus has a whole 2 mods for it, people keep saying you keep getting killed n stuff in it and the graphics are outdated.

why do Bethesda take so long to bring out new games! don’t they like money or something.

Shit, Bethesda made Redguard and Daggerfall (MS-DOS), neither’s disc-set ever worked properly.

GOG went elitist. Much changes in a year.

Speaking of Souls series, whoever is new to the series should avoid Dark Souls 2 because it’s the worst game of them all. It’s difficult for me to tell which one is the best. I played them all starting with Demon’s Souls of which I have the best memories. I’d rank them lile this: Demon’s Souls > DS1 > DS3 > DS2. But again, it’s difficult for me to remove the bias of the sequence in which I played them.

One thing is sure, DS3 has the best music.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stWae6r7Blw[/youtube]

Yes. And Bloodborne was amazing as well.

I’d still say Dark Souls 2 is a solid game. I really don’t think you could go wrong starting with any of them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhY7sfQHUpw[/youtube]

Yea but who wants a 4ki game/machine with a 3rd person lump stood in front of the screen all the time.

I gone back to playing total war games recently [ETW], but the newer games have gone with the survivalist theme, so you get fog-of-war ~ literally a screen of fog with a bit of green in the centre. I don’t get it, the games need good machines if you want the better graphics, but then the developers go and do that.

Here’s the thing, third-person has better possibilities for game mechanics. In third-person, you can see exactly how your character moves, dodges, swings a sword, blocks with a shield, etc. And you need to pay attention to all of these things in a game like Dark Souls or the Witcher. You need to learn the timing of your movements and watching your character and getting a sense of his/her size and gait, etc. is the best way to do that. First-person is like playing blind. Sure you still learn timing, but I’ve never seen a first-person non-shooter that had great combat mechanics. It’s more difficult to do.

As far as looking at a male player character butt all game, I don’t have that problem b/c I’m not focused on the butt. To be honest, it sounds like a weird insecurity that you can’t stand to play male characters in 3rd person, because you don’t want to look at a man’s backside…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcuLEyBfR9Y[/youtube]

you can’t do this ^ in first-person

Don’t forget demon souls. It’s better than dark souls three but not as good as DS1

Not only did I not forget it, I ranked it as the best game inthe series.

I played Bloodborne up until Cleric Beast (or whatever it is called.) It’s faster compared to Souls games and combat mechanics are neither as good nor as authentic (holding a shield in your left hand feels much more natural than holding a gun.) Certainly not a fan of the game.

I like the music though.